Historical piece

[ilbegone]

Here is a historical piece by a certain Ray Gonzales, former Kern County assemblyman and retired educator.

There is some slant to it, but this is generally how Mexican immigration began, railroad construction in the late 1800's and the 1910 Mexican revolution.

One slant is that migration has been constant, but the truth is the first large wave of Mexican immigration was due to the senseless slaughter of the Mexican revolution.

Gonzales describes the revolution as being from 1910 to 1928, but I believe this might be the PRI take on the revolution. The revolution seems to have ended about the time of Obregon's presidency in 1920, various rebellions and bloodshed went on for several years. Note the Cristero war in the late 1920's with President Calles. Fall out from the Mexican Revolution seems to have stabilized with President Cardenas in the early 1930's. Calles, who was exiled rather than executed by Cardenas, was perhaps the only major figure (Cardenas played a part in the war as a General) of the Mexican Revolution to have not been assassinated.

Another slant is that President Madero was "served" by Emilano Zapata, the truth is there was a lot of misunderstanding and enmity between Zapata and Madero factions which involved bloodshed and troops sent to bring Zapata to heel. The Mexican revolutionary figures generally turned on one another (train loads of treachery), with the increasingly paranoid Zapata being the "purest" of the lot. Madero, described as a dreamer idealist, had little concept of the reality he had let loose on Mexico with the ending of the Diaz dictatorship. Perhaps good intentions really do pave the highway to hell.

Pancho Villa, originally Doroteo Aranga, was a cattle rustler who, I believe, was assassinated as much for the men he killed and women he raped as much as any political reason. Villa didn't enter the Pantheon of Mexican Gods until long after his death. Zapata's Indian Army didn't harass the populations they occupied, but Villa's men destroyed infrastructure and looted, raped and murdered wherever they went.

RAY GONZALES: How a revolution shaped Kern

(Western Kern County, California)


Feb 11 2012

There has been a constant flow of Mexicans and other Latin Americans into California from the time of the Spanish occupation, which began in the 18th century. As I have written before, cattle ranching, mining and agriculture were major reasons for this migration north from Mexico. But the two major reasons for the massive movement north during the 20th century were the development of railroads and the Mexican Revolution.

Whenever there is a massive movement of people from one region to another, there is an anthropological phenomenon known as the "push-pull" factor involved. Something occurs that pushes people out of one area, while something else pulls them into another region. In the case of the movement of Mexicans north, the Mexican Revolution that began in 1910 has been the most significant "push" factor in the story of Mexican migration into the U.S.

Mexico's violent revolution, which overthrew a dictatorship and was aimed against the ruling classes, was the first modern social revolution of the 20th century, predating the Russian Revolution. Mexico experienced its violent revolution from 1910 to 1928. Initially, rebels sought to overthrow the dictator Porfirio Diaz, who had been in power since 1876. The disparity between rich and poor was significant in the country, with 75 percent of the population living off agriculture but owning only 5 percent of the land. Diaz had essentially placed control of the country in the hands of the landed class, foreign companies and the Church, which was allowed to control its extensive landholdings.

The revolution erupted in 1910 under the leadership of the idealistic banker Francisco I. Madero, who was served by the peasant warriors Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa. The goal of the revolution was to implement land reform, expel dominant foreign companies and limit the power of the Church. The dictator Diaz was quickly defeated, but what followed after the assassination of the revolutionary leader Madero was a violent struggle among the leaders that remained.

It was during these years of constant civil war, resulting in the deaths of more than 250,000 Mexicans, the burning of farms, churches, factories, and the destruction of villages and cities, that the economic stability of the country was totally shattered. Both revolutionaries and the former ruling classes were left in disarray. As a result, a wave of immigrants began to cross into the United States. In 1909, there were less than 5,000 Mexican immigrants moving into the U.S. But beginning in 1910, that figure jumped to nearly 90,000 per year. By 1920, more than 900,000 Mexicans had fled north.

During this period in the United States, Congress was concerned with the mass of immigrants coming into the country, especially from southern and eastern Europe. As a result, the Immigration Act of 1921, which required that immigrants be fluent in English before immigrating, became law. Agricultural lobbyists successfully blocked the movement to include Mexican immigrants. Thus, "a pull factor," the flow of Mexicans to serve as agricultural and railroad workers, continued. Due to the lack of immigration quotas, thousands of Mexicans came into the U.S. on permanent visas annually -- with 1924 being the peak year for Mexican immigration at 100,000.

It was during these years of the revolution from 1910 to 1928 that many of Kern County's oldest Mexican families arrived. My own father was brought to Bakersfield from the state of Jalisco at the age of 7 in 1916 by his parents, Jose and Celia Gonzales. Curiously, they came by way of Muskogee, Okla., where my grandfather worked some time on the railroad there. Some years earlier, in 1910, my maternal grandfather, Bernabe Molinar, and his two brothers had fled the turbulent state of Chihuahua, which was the area controlled by Pancho Villa. Many other well-known Bakersfield families arrived during these years: The Mike Gomez clan, Art and Chano Rosales, the Arvizu family; Arnold and Ruth Ramirez began their family here as did the Lostaunaus, Sorias, Savedras, Resendezes, Gallardos, Lozanos, Munozes, Alderetes and others.

Retired Municipal Court Commissioner Patrick Alderete recalls that his grandfather, Crespin Alderete, fled Mexico from San Julian, Jalisco, sometime before 1920 because of the violence. He was concerned that his four sons might be conscripted by one side or the other during the war. The elder Alderete subsequently had eight more children born here in the U.S. Likewise, Kern County Superior Court Judge Robert Tafoya indicates that his grandmother fled the revolution, coming from Chihuahua, Mexico, early in the 1920s. Tafoya's wife, Sandra Serrano, chancellor of the Kern Community College District, notes that her family, like so many other Mexican immigrants, came from Jalisco during the years of revolution.

Bakersfield City Councilman Rudy Salas, a Bakersfield native, told me that his family came originally from the Mexican state of Matamoros. Like other families who ultimately settled in Kern, many spent time in Texas or Arizona before ending up in California's San Joaquin Valley. Agriculture and railroad work were major "pull" factors attracting them to this area. But early on, immigrant families began to establish Mexican cuisine as a gastronomic link between the new immigrants and the old country. Eventually, Mexican-food restaurants would become the major choice of Kern County citizens (as The Californian's Jan. 27 Market Review reveals).

One such family was the Pedro Munoz family. Pedro and his three sisters had fled the Revolution from Aguascalientes around 1913. Pedro and his wife, Julia, had 11 children, most born in Bakersfield. Among them were Pete, Mike and Joe, who over the years became leaders in the local restaurant business. Pete ran the first tortilla factory in Bakersfield, owned by the Gamez family on the corner of Baker and Eureka streets. Pete married Ruth Gamez and their offspring now run the very successful Mexicali restaurants. Mike and Joe Munoz operated the Sinaloa Restaurant, originally located on 19th Street in east Bakersfield. Next to it was the Spanish Kitchen, operated by Tony and Inez Resendez. Ultimately, Sinaloa moved to its present location on 21st Street and brother Joe opened his very successful Casa Munoz at Union Avenue and 18th Street.

In the 1940s and '50s, these restaurants, along with the Arizona Cafe, Estrada's Spanish Kitchen and the Jimenez Restaurant on 21st Street, across the street from Central Park, were the only restaurants featuring Mexican food. Today, there are more than 136 such restaurants in Bakersfield. Perhaps the restaurant that most reflected the link between the Mexican Revolution and immigration to the U.S. was the Jimenez restaurant run by José Jimenez, known affectionately by local residents as Col. Jimenez. In fact, Jimenez was truly a colonel in Pancho Villa's Division of the North. Jimenez had been a currier and aide to Villa during the revolution and was written about in many accounts of Villa's exploits. Jimenez ultimately settled in Kern County after Villa was assassinated by his opponents in 1923.

The Mexican Revolution did not end until 1928. During its 18 years, the major wave of immigrants reached nearly 2 million. These immigrants found life in the U.S. somewhat natural because the Southwest, where most of them eventually settled, had for 200 years been either a part of Spain or Mexico. Kern County was the recipient of a significant number of these new Americans. Their descendents are now making major contributions in the fields of education, law enforcement and the legal profession, military service, health care, business, politics, and many other occupations vital to the life of the community.

Ray Gonzales, Ph.D., a former Kern County assemblyman, is retired from the California State University system. This is one of a series of his articles on Latinos in turn-of-the-century California.

http://www.bakersfield.com/opinion/c...on-shaped-Kern